Britten: Cello Suites
Quirine Viersen (cello), Benjamin Britten (piano)
The complex weave of the Second Suite has confounded many, especially its monumental fugue: this is where Viersen excels, limpidly at home in its intricately rhythmic, multi-voiced construction,...
Britten: Cello Suites
Quirine Viersen (cello), Benjamin Britten (piano)
Purchase product
The complex weave of the Second Suite has confounded many, especially its monumental fugue: this is where Viersen excels, limpidly at home in its intricately rhythmic, multi-voiced construction,...
About
After the great success of the Bach Cello Suites (GLO5244), Quirine Viersen set sail for that other Mount Everest of solo cello repertoire: the Britten Cello Suites. The untimely death of her good friend and producer Paul Janse prevented her from editing and releasing the album two years ago, but now the time seemed right. Her tribute to the inspiring friendship shows how right Janse was in his assuming that this music fits Viersen like a glove... The Strad said of Viersen's Bach recording: 'Quirine Viersen's interpretations of the Cello Suites (GLO5244) are characterised by poise, imagination and a pleasing sense of fantasy.'
Contents and tracklist
- Quirine Viersen
- Quirine Viersen
- Quirine Viersen
Awards and reviews
February 2017
The complex weave of the Second Suite has confounded many, especially its monumental fugue: this is where Viersen excels, limpidly at home in its intricately rhythmic, multi-voiced construction, savouring its high, pure pitches on her very beautiful Guarneri instrument…Viersen allows [the Third Suite’s] mysterious process time to breathe, its fantasy to take wing, for resonance to bloom
January 2017
Evidence of Quirine Viersen’s pedigree in period performance is inescapable in her performance of Britten’s three cello suites…the direction often flows towards the centre of her phrases, rather than the end: the implied (although not actual) presence of a Baroque bow is very firm, and as a result the legacy of the Bach suites…is uppermost in this elegant recording.
